As someone who lives with anxiety, my day-to-day life can feel overwhelming, and sometimes even my most trusted anxiety toolkit doesn’t help. My anxiety has been at its worst recently, so receiving Fix Me- How to Manage Anxiety and Take Control of Your Life came at the perfect time.

Belynder Walia is a psychotherapist who I had recently started following on Instagram, and I was already familiar with her work and was excited to dig deeper by reading her book and gaining some insight into tools that could support me.

The book is categorised into helpful sections including.

• Anxiety triggers
• Physical symptoms of anxiety
• Three Brains equilibrium (3BE)
• Fear and the Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn responses.
• Self-Sabotaging Behaviour
• Calming Anxiety Naturally

I have read tonnes of anxiety books and one thing most of them have in common is that they are simply full of too much jargon. Belynder has found a way of condensing the information so that every page offers insight, empathy and tools to support you. One section that I found helpful was ‘Quick Fixes for Managing Anxiety.’ Sometimes you need a quick fix to ground you and bring you back to the present, and this section did just that. There were a few tools which I already used, but one that I hadn’t tried before was progressive muscle relaxation. I have been doing this 2-3 times a week alongside my usual breathwork practice.

The explanation of anxiety triggers was helpful too. We are rarely told to explore what our triggers are, so it was good to be prompted to look at my individual anxiety triggers and how I can work on reducing them with the aim of hopefully preventing anxiety attacks occurring.

One section which stood out for me was ‘Three Brains Equilibrium (3BE). I have an interest in cognitive health and am very much at the start of my journey, so I found this section extremely helpful without being too science focused.

The section that most readers (and definitely the women that I talk to) would find helpful is ‘Managing social anxiety.’ There has been a rise in social anxiety since COVID, myself included. With more workshops moving from Zoom to face-to-face, managing social anxiety is crucial. This might be useful for younger readers too, who are often expected to talk in front of their class to participate in performances in front of large crowds.

This has been a really helpful and insightful read in many ways, and can easily be read in a week or two, giving you support and tools to move forward quickly. I would also suggest using this book as a journal to work on self-awareness, which you can then use alongside other therapies such as CBT or even to just communicate with your GP or therapist.

This would be such a thoughtful Christmas gift for someone who you know is struggling with anxiety or overwhelm, or to have on your bookshelf for those days when you need a quick fix.